Former 1989 student leader stopped at Hong Kong border with China
| Publisher | Radio Free Asia |
| Publication Date | 23 April 2015 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Asia, Former 1989 student leader stopped at Hong Kong border with China, 23 April 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/555edb3a2b.html [accessed 19 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
2015-04-23
Xiong Yan (L) and Chai Ling (R) in a Tiananmen discussion hosted by RFA's Mandarin service, June 4, 2010. RFA
Former Tiananmen student protest leader Xiong Yan was briefly detained at Hong Kong's border with China on Thursday before being put on a flight back to the United States, as authorities thwarted an attempt to visit his terminally ill mother, friends and supporters told RFA's Mandarin Service.
Xiong, 50, had flown to Hong Kong from Seattle and had planned to enter China by land from Hong Kong. The former British colony became a special zone of China in 1997 and retains its own customs and immigration system.
On Thursday evening, Xiong was taken away by authorities as he awaited clearance to enter China and held for questioning, his supporters said.
After his disappearance, Xiong's supporters and lawyers from the Hong Kong Alliance to Support Democracy in China requested access to him. They later received a call from Xiong at Hong Kong's airport saying he had been refused entry to Hong Kong and was to be put on a flight back to the United States immediately, his supporters told RFA.
Xiong, a U.S. citizen based in Texas, had recently sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and the Chinese consulate in Houston, to request a visa for travel to Hunan to visit his dying mother, but received no reply.
Xiong was a student at the Law School of Beijing University at the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and served a 19-month term in labor camp for his part in the protests. He fled China in 1992 to the United States, where he studied theology and joined the U.S. Army, later being posted as a chaplain to Iraq.
Reported by CK for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated by Ping Chen. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
Link to original story on RFA website
